After a 30-year hiatus, Appalachian State will renew its rivalry with former Southern Conference rival East Carolina in a game many around the Old North State have awaited with high expectations since the announcement the two would play in the winter.
Expectations come from the fact that both programs have seen an overnight surge in rising to new levels in their respective football traditions. For Appalachian State, anxious to wash the bitter taste from its mouth left by a FCS quarterfinal loss to Richmond in '08, it’s an expectation that was realized in 2005.
The Mountaineer football program had always been a football program that was good and trips to the playoffs were that of second-nature to head coach Jerry Moore and staff, however, making that rather large step from good to great isn’t one that comes overnight.
In fact, it was an Appalachian team in '05 that was coming off a 6-5 season that forged all the way to the school’s first national title and catapulted the program to new, unprecedented heights. Three titles and a win over Michigan later, the Mountaineers expect to win every time they take the field, and they expect to do it in style.
When Appalachian State took the field against Michigan to open the '07 season, Appalachian State play-by-play broadcaster David Jackson summed it up best when he said, "Quite simply put, Jerry Moore and Appalachian State have never boarded a plane or taken a bus to lose a football game."
That will be the same approach that this 2009 edition—many of which were a part of the win in Ann Arbor—of the Mountaineer football team will have as its mentality on Saturday afternoon when they take the Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium turf to take on the Pirates.
Helping back up those expectations when the Mountaineers take the turf against the Pirates on Saturday afternoon will be 18 returning starters and a collection of talent that could be the most talented of the three previous teams that have brought home national titles for the Mountaineers.
Reigning Walter Payton Award-winner Armanti Edwards returns to his stead as the team's starting signal-caller, which is a pretty amazing story when you consider he is coming back from a severe cut on his foot after an offseason accident cutting grass just prior to the start of fall camp.
Edwards is the most decorated player in Appalachian State Football history and is poised to have a strong senior season. Edwards passed for 2,902 yards, 30 TDs, and nine INTs last fall, while also leading the team in rushing yardage by completing the campaign with 941 yards and 11 TDs on 193 attempts (4.9 YPC).
Expectations have become something of a watchword in Greenville, NC as well, especially under fifth-year head coach Skip Holtz, who came to ECU after serving as offensive coordinator at the University of South Carolina.
The nation took notice of the Pirates from the inception of the ‘08 season, as the Pirates shocked eventual ACC and Orange Bowl champion Virginia Tech, 27-22.
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